Dr. Andrew Sprung

ALPENA — The Alpena Symphony Orchestra is pleased to perform a fall concert titled “October Winds” at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the Alpena High School Auditorium, 3303 S. 3rd Ave. in Alpena. The orchestra will be conducted by maestro Jim VanEizenga, Director of Orchestras at Novi High School. The featured soloist for this performance is clarinetist Dr. Andrew Sprung.

The concert opens with the lively “Overture to ‘Cosi Fan Tutte'” by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, followed by the “Clarinet Concerto in Eb Major” by Classical Czech composer Franz Krommer.

Clarinet soloist Sprung received his doctoral degree from Michigan State University, his master’s degree from Bowling Green State University, and his Bachelor of Arts degree from Iowa State University. He is a private music educator as well as Adjunct Professor of Clarinet at Spring Arbor University and Hillsdale College, and he serves the Traverse Symphony Orchestra as Second Clarinetist.

Sprung is often a soloist with other Midwest orchestras and the ASO is honored to have him serve as soloist with them. After a brief intermission, the ASO will perform the “Arriaga Symphony” by Juan Crisostomo Arriaga, a Spanish Basque composer living in the early 19th century who was like Mozart in that he was a child prodigy who died at a very young age. Arriaga died at the age of 19.

The ticket price for the concert is $15 for adults with free admission for students and children. Tickets will be sold at the door prior to the performance. The ASO is a nonprofit, 501(c)3 organization. A reception will follow the concert in the high school lobby.